Texas Woman Sentenced for Forced Illegal Alien Labor

A Texas woman was sentenced to six years in federal prison and a nearly $800,000 fine after she was convicted of harboring two illegal aliens, forcing them to work as maids without pay.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency announced that Olga Sandra Murra, 64, of Fort Worth, was sentenced and expected to pay $795,000 in restitution to her victims, both of which are illegal aliens.

Murra was convicted on two counts of forced labor and two counts of harboring illegal aliens after threatening her two victims with deportation and subsequently forcing them to work.

Murra, a Mexican immigrant herself, moved to Forth Worth in 1997, bringing one of her victims with her, along with other family members. The following year, Murra arranged for her other victim to be brought into the U.S. illegally.

Between September 1997 and April 2011, Murra kept either one of both victims at her residences in Fort Worth or in El Paso. During this time period, Murra forced both victims to work for her cleaning business, in which she forced them to hand all of their earnings over to her by threatening to call immigration officials on them. The victims would work up to seven days a week sometimes and cleaned nearly three to four homes a day. Murra also ordered the illegal aliens to cook food for her at her own residence.

At some point, Murra presented herself as a religious figure to the women, making them listen to voice recordings of her reading Bible verses and told them that if they did not obey her, they would go to hell. Murra allegedly hit one of the victims and threatened the other.

Murra restricted their bathroom use and food intake to bread and water. The victims would be punished by being forced to sleep in the backyard or garage.

Murra also forced one of her victims to work at McDonald’s and Wal-Mart, aside from working at her cleaning business, continuing to take all of the victims’ earnings.

The case was investigated by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division and prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Allen-McCoy and Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Wirmani.

John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.